House Bill 439, sponsored by Representative Bryon Short and Senator Patricia Blevins, addresses the situation of “surprise” bills. That is, the situation when a patient seeks and receives care, and is unaware that the provider, either in whole or in part (such as lab work and anesthesia) is out of the patient’s insurance network, until the patient receives the bill. A draft of HB 439 aggressively pushed against the practice by implementing a fee schedule for all out-of-network services based on Workers’ Compensation. But after feedback from clinicians and facilities that cited a lack of data at their disposal to implement the suggested changes, the legislation passed by the General Assembly took the tack of notification instead.
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